In general, particle processing (e.g., cytometry) systems (e.g., cytometers) and methods are known. For example, some approaches to particle processing or analyzing (e.g., cell purification) systems such as sorting flow cytometers and other particle processing systems have proven to be useful in life science research, industrial, agricultural, diagnostics, and other medical applications.
In general, a cytometer can be described as a system that can measure large numbers of homogeneous and/or heterogeneous particle sets to achieve statistically relevant data sets that can be used to group and/or identify subpopulations that reside within a given particle population (e.g., within one or more samples). These measurements are sometimes performed optically (whether they are intrinsic or responsive to an optical stimulus), or they may be electrical in nature (or some other physical, chemical, or biological characteristic) as a stream of particles passes through a measurement or inspection zone. The particle sets may include biological entities such as cells (e.g., bacteria, viruses, organelles, yeasts, spores, genetic material, spermatozoa, egg cells, multicellular organisms), or other organisms, or other naturally occurring or synthetic/synthetically derived objects.
With the addition of sort functionality, a cytometer can also be used to isolate (e.g., physically separate) one or more particles of interest from a given/presented sample through human/operator control. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,590, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In general, this technique can be used to classify and/or separate (e.g., purify or enrich) one or more populations as defined by the operator.